Rainbow Rights Project, Inc. (R-Rights) fully supports the UP Pride Week 2012 call for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) and LGBTQ-friendly policies in the student handbook of University of the Philippines (UP).

In 2011, UNESCO, education ministries from around the world, and other stakeholders released the Rio Statement on Homophobic Bullying and Education for All where they called for “all governments to live up to their responsibility to provide universal access to a high quality education by eliminating the barriers created by homophobia and transphobia, including the unacceptable and devastating prevalence of anti-LGBT bias and violence in elementary, secondary, and tertiary schools.”1 As the premier state university of the country, UP is lauded for the high quality of education it provides.

However, for as long as the safety, well-being, and education of LGBTQ students and staff are undermined because of SOGI-based discriminatory acts, UP falls alarmingly short of the expectations set by this acclaim.

Due to the persistent link between anti-LGBTQ “bullying and bias – including lack of access to accurate information regarding health, sexuality and other aspects of the curriculum – and negative social, educational and health outcomes, including increased vulnerability to HIV, mental health consequences and suicide”2 the universal right to education is endangered if these systemic discriminatory acts and stigmas against LGBTQ students and staff remain unaddressed in an educational institution.

Recognizing the lack of university policies to guard against the dangers of anti-LGBTQ bias and bullying, Rainbow Rights Project is one with the UP Pride attendees and supporters in urgently calling for the formation, inclusion, and enforcement of SOGI-sensitive and LGBTQ-friendly policies in the University of the Philippines' student handbook.

Let us establish safe and inclusive learning environments for the UP LGBTQ community!

June 28 holds a special place in LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) history. On this day in the year 1969, a group of LGBT patrons fought off the authorities during a police raid in a New York City gay bar, which escalated to a series of spontaneous demonstrations against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual and gender minorities. These Stonewall Riots became the cornerstone of the worldwide LGBT rights movement.

On this very same day, we relive the spirit of the struggle here in UP Diliman. Forty-four years after Stonewall, LGBT people all over the world continue to suffer from discrimination, harassment and violence due to their sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. In UP and in the Republic of the Philippines, there is currently no comprehensive anti-discrimination policy that would guarantee LGBTs protection in education, employment, healthcare, housing and other areas. LGBT people are still routinely condemned as sick, abnormal or immoral by some members and sectors of Philippine society.

The University of the Philippines Babaylan, the first and largest LGBT student organization in the country, remains determined to press for change and hopeful that this will soon happen. Throughout our twenty-year history as a support and advocacy group, we have witnessed the LGBT discourse in the State University gradually improve, from one borne out of hatred and ignorance, to that of curiosity and general tolerance. Last month’s issue of Forum (the UP community newsletter) devoted to gender, women and LGBTs have further convinced us that UP is now ready to fully embrace diversity and appreciate and protect its LGBT constituency.

We reiterate our persistent demand to the University administration to create and fairly enforce a comprehensive non-discrimination and anti-bullying/harassment policy that includes explicit protection for LGBT students, teachers and staff. Many of the world’s top universities already have these regulations in place, and it is imperative that UP implement them as soon as possible, not only for the well-being of its LGBT constituents, but also to preserve UP’s stature as the country’s premier academic institution.

We urge faculty and support staff to practice and promote LGBT-inclusive education. This would include an LGBT-friendly curriculum and learning materials, as well as access to relevant gender-sensitive information and services.

We call on our fellow Iskolars ng Bayan, regardless if you are LGBT or not, to continue building and strengthening this culture of human rights and diversity that we have painstakingly cultivated in our beloved university. Your privileged position as the country’s future leaders will allow you to educate and influence many others to side with equality, stop homo/bi/transphobia and ultimately honor Stonewall’s legacy.

We, as a free and unbound student organization with majority of its members from De La Salle University-Manila, fully support the University of the Philippines Pride March and its mission to educate to end hate and discrimination as well as celebrate the beauty of diversity found in the LGBTQ community.

Despite advances over the years—from the very first Pride March in the Philippines to the formation of a political party list, LADLAD—progress towards achieving equal opportunities, equal treatment and equal rights for every lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgendered and queer is not in a place where we want it to be. Every minute of every day, there is one that is bullied, one that is driven out of their own home, one that is rejected by employers, one that gets sick and one that is killed.

This is not something to be tolerated and this is not something to be taken lightly. Human rights, even the most basic, are being trampled on.

Through initiatives as such as well as various others, unity, and collective effort, we can make history happen. Let us work together in educating those who do not understand, in fighting for what is just and what is due to us, and in working towards our common vision—a society that is non-discriminating and accepting of the LGBTQ community.

It has been a question whether or not atheists and agnostics must support the LGBT Pride March. Well, it’s really not a matter whether it’s an atheist or not. We have atheist friends who are homosexuals. We have homosexual relatives. The truth of the matter is that we are here not as an atheists/agnostics organization but as people who believe that gender-equality is a part of civilized society. We are not limited in a standard based on believing that there are only two opposite sexes. We believe that there are no barriers that can justify bigotry, especially in campuses.

Our schools must have the atmosphere of equal opportunity to all. Discrimination has no place in our educational system. A school that promotes sexual bigotry automatically encourages this type of behavior outside the campus. We at PATAS believe that as what our name suggest, we must give equal respect to all people without basing it on their sexual preferences. Our educational institutions reflect our community and our society as a whole.

PATAS believe in love and parity and we believe that our educational institutions must be more than just providing students with the basic instructions that they will be using to find work. Schools must also provide a harmonious atmosphere of love and gender equality.

PATAS joins this march to express its concern and its support together with other organizations for the implementation of gender friendly policies in this school and on other campuses around the Philippines.